Sunday, 6 November 2005

Otterbourne 2 - 1 Burridge AFC (Aet)

Burridge produced a morale boosting performance, as they lost only after extra time against Wessex League opponents. Somewhat confused at Otterbourne's rather complicated and exhausting warm up routine, they preferred to take the leisurely approach by chatting about last night at the pub, or in Dean's case - rolling fags. Initially it seemed as though Burridge were quite perturbed at the prospect of chasing their opposing numbers for the entirety of an afternoon; but as the game progressed they managed to remain in the contest, despite going a goal down.

Although Otterbourne were sharper in their all round passing play (maybe the warm up is a beneficial factor), Burridge still managed to eek out a few scoring opportunities of their own (then again perhaps not). As in typical Burridge style, they began to play according to the opposition, in this case raising their game. Otterbourne may well have thought that the game should have been over, as their attacks were denied by some heroic defending. But in spite of this Burridge found an equalizer. Ross Bryant found Mark Sanderson on the right flank, whose cross was met by the head of Lee Wood; his downward header was glanced away by the keeper, but only onto the inside of the post, and Paul Andrews - fresh off the bench - wellied into an empty net, silencing the hordes of Otterbourne faithful.

Normally the shrilled whistle of the referee after ninety minutes would have signaled a well earned point for Burridge. But, this is cup football, and they had another thirty minutes to play with the possibility of a penalty shoot - which for people of a certain age instantly brings back painful memories of Italia '90 - still to contend with. The level of commitment did not falter, but inevitably Burridge's collective twenty-two legs began to tire. Otterbourne's winning goal came during the first period of extra time, via a well executed chip. However, Burridge can only draw positives from this game, can they sustain such workmanlike performances?